Lebanese president says Hezbollah can only be disarmed if Israel withdraws

Lebanon can disarm Hezbollah, but Israel’s military must pull out of the south of the country for it to happen, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun tells US congressmembers and Trump administration officials, according to his office.

Speaking at a dinner in his honor hosted by Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad, Aoun says that his country cannot be secure or united until it is “one state with one army that protects all Lebanese.”

“Hezbollah’s weapons can be disarmed if we are honest about what it truly requires,” he continues, “namely the removal of the occupation and the army taking full control.”

During a White House meeting earlier Tuesday, Aoun, the first Lebanese president invited to Washington since 2009, asked US President Donald Trump for political support and continued backing for the Lebanese army, which has begun deploying in southern areas, including zones where Israeli forces retreat from, under a US-backed framework agreement with Israel.

Israeli officials have expressed skepticism that Lebanon’s armed forces are strong enough to disarm Hezbollah by force on its own, and say troops are needed in the south to provide a buffer zone keeping the Iran-backed terror group away from its border.

During the meeting with Trump, Aoun, a former army commander, said the military was “the backbone of security and stability” and the country’s most trusted institution.

Asked whether the US would provide assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces on disarming Hezbollah, Trump was noncommittal, saying that he would be discussing the matter with Aoun privately.

The framework signed on June 26 after several rounds of direct negotiations envisions a phased Israeli pullback from positions in south Lebanon and looks to pave the path toward eventual peace between the two countries.